Polish Govt gives flat 'No’ to free trade unions

Press, 29 August 1980, Page 6

Polish Govt gives flat 'No’ to free trade unions

NZPA-Reuter Gdansk Poland’s chief Government peace-maker in the strikes crippling northern seaports and industry has said in a national broadcast that no agreement had been reached on the strikers’ key demand for free trade unions. But he said the two sides had achieved agreement on almost all the workers’ other demands, including pay rises and increased social benefits.

The Deputy Prime Minister Miecyslaw Jagielski said in a radio and television interview yesterday that the atmosphere at Wednesday’s session of a joint commission of experts on the question of free unions and the right to strike had been very good. Both sides seemed willing to come to an agreement. Earlier, strike leaders on the commission' of experts said the talks had made no

big progress and that both sides were sticking to. their positions. Mr Tagielski said the experts would meet again today (N.Z. Time). This was likely to be followed by a meeting between Mr Jagielski’s team and leaders of the inter-factory strike committee.

The strikes appeared to be taking hold in the central city of Lodz, and in Wroclaw, near the Silesian coalmining region. The strikes in- Wroclaw spread from 18 workplaces to 25 within a few hours today. “The municipal transport strike has made it impossible for many thousands of Wroclaw citizens to get about the city,” Wroclaw radio reported. The strikes had already brought difficulties in vegetable and fruit supplies on the Gdansk coast, Warsaw Radio said.

The radio, monitored in London by the British Broadcasting Corporation, said transport problems made it impossible to deliver parcel post and petrol was being rationed.

More than 200 workplaces were on strike in the Stciecin region, Szczecin radio said.

Mr Meiczslaw Rakowski, a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, said on television the strikes could soon close factories throughout the country because of a lack of raw materials. His frank statement was in line with the Government’s latest policy of being open about the strikes.

Official news organisations have given full coverage to the dispute and one national paper even included the strikers’ demand for the abolition of press censorship.